"Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick!" In a theater just outside town, moments before the first Saturday showing of the Jonas Brothers movie begins to roll, the unbelievable happens. As fans sing Burnin' Up in unison, the actual, living-and-breathing Jonas Brothers walk into the theater, grab a mike and begin thanking their fans for coming out.

The phone started ringing shortly after the Jets traded up to get the 14th pick from the Carolina Panthers, where they took Pittsburgh cornerback Darrelle Revis. Even sitting in the Airmont Diner yesterday afternoon, Neil Schwartz heard the same thing over and over. "Congratulations, now don't screw this up," said Schwartz, the local agent who represents Revis. "We're Jets fans first and your friends second. Get him into training camp on time."

Many colleges are changing long-held marketing traditions to respond to the high-tech preferences of today's students and to woo their favored candidates. Schools are creating recruiting websites full of bells and whistles or that can be personalized to a student's interests.

Hoping to fill a gap in its lineup of apparel as well as its financial performance, Gap today is opening the flagship location of its first new chain in more than a decade. Forth & Towne aims at the key group of women 35 and up who seem to be turned off by traditional department stores.

In a few weeks, high school students face the prospect of taking the much-publicized new SAT Reasoning Test, which for the first time will require them to write a timed essay. Yet colleges continue to send confusing signals about whether students applying in the fall to attend college must take the new exam.